1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to internal combustion engines, and in particular, high compression internal combustion engines which operate on natural gas, raw natural gas, or alternative fuels such as bio-fuels, and more particularly, to a selective sequential automatic lubricating system for lubricating the cylinder and compression ring on the piston to extend the life of the engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional internal combustion engines of the piston, cylinder and poppet valve variety are normally constructed with an oil sump and pump which lubricates all of the moving parts of the engine in order to lessen the wear and tear on the engine. The lubricating points would include, but would not be limited to, the poppet valve stems, the cylinder walls below the compression ring of the piston, and the crank shaft. Still further, the conventional internal combustion engine runs on gasoline or diesel fuel, which is a liquid, and which retains certain liquid-like properties when atomized for combustion within the combustion chamber.
The Applicant's parent has improved upon the internal combustion engine with a series of patents which eliminate the poppet valve and the moving parts associated therewith and replace the poppet valve train with a valve train of spherical rotary valves which control the intake of air and fuel into the combustion chamber and the exhaust of the spent fuel and air from the combustion chamber.
Applicant's parent has adapted his spherical rotary valve train to high compression, internal combustion engines which operate on natural gas and raw natural gas. These type of engines are oftentimes found operating at a well head, where both crude oil and raw natural gas are being pumped from the well head. The crude oil will be further refined into gasoline, diesel and other fuels, but the raw natural gas, prior to environmental concerns would normally be burnt off at the well head. In most jurisdictions the burning off of the raw natural gas has become prohibited and another means of disposing of the raw natural gas must be found. One solution was to position a high compression engine proximate the well head and to burn the raw natural gas in the internal combustion engine, which engine in turn would be used to drive a pump or a generator and develop electricity which would be sold to the local electrical grid. Engines of this type would normally operate around the clock and suffer extensive wear and tear from the high heat of combustion and acidity of the raw natural gas such that the life expectancy of their components was only a few months. The wear and tear is contributed by the fact that the raw natural gas is a very dry, acidic fuel which burns at a very high temperature and under high compression such that normal poppet valves would quickly become scorched and brittle and the compression ring on the piston would also become scorched and brittle affecting the compression of the respective cylinder and affecting the integrity of the surface of the cylinder bore.
The adaption of the Applicant's parent spherical rotary valve system to these engines has solved the problem with the scorching of the poppet valves by eliminating them. However, the compression ring on the pistons were still being affected by the high temperature and high compression of the raw, acidic natural gas fuel, such that the scorching and degradation of the internal cylinder wall was still occurring.
The sequential, intermittent lubricating system of the present invention for providing lubrication to the cylinder, and more particularly to the compression ring, solves the problem of scorching and significantly extends the life expectancy of such an engine, whether it be an industrial engine or a vehicle engine running on natural gas, hydrogen, or alternative fuels.